diff --git a/source/dub/commandline.d b/source/dub/commandline.d
index 56ebb8f94..32a110eb6 100644
--- a/source/dub/commandline.d
+++ b/source/dub/commandline.d
@@ -2176,8 +2176,7 @@ class FetchCommand : FetchRemoveCommand {
 			}
 			catch(Exception e){
 				logInfo("Getting a release version failed: %s", e.msg);
-				logInfo("Retry with ~master...");
-				dub.fetch(name, VersionRange.fromString("~master"), location, fetchOpts);
+				return 1;
 			}
 		}
 		return 0;
diff --git a/source/dub/dub.d b/source/dub/dub.d
index 51d75c954..19c97e119 100644
--- a/source/dub/dub.d
+++ b/source/dub/dub.d
@@ -913,7 +913,8 @@ class Dub {
 				logDebug("Full error: %s", e.toString().sanitize());
 			}
 		}
-		enforce(pinfo.type != Json.Type.undefined, "No package "~packageId~" was found matching the dependency " ~ range.toString());
+		enforce(!pinfo.type.among(Json.Type.undefined, Json.Type.null_),
+				"No package " ~ packageId ~ " was found matching the dependency " ~ range.toString());
 		Version ver = Version(pinfo["version"].get!string);
 
 		// always upgrade branch based versions - TODO: actually check if there is a new commit available